The best books of 2015 - Check out all the lists & awards for your reading pleasure!!!!

New York Times  - 10 Best Books

NYT columnists favorites of the year

NYT - 100 notable books of 2015

NYT - Children’s books of 2015

Good Reads lists for 2015

NPR’s interactive lists of the best of 2015 books ---- Thanks Kyra for the suggestion

Best of the Best Lists - Wall St Journal

National Book Award winners 2015

YALSA’s Best of the Best Lists - Teen reading- fiction, graphic novels, non-fiction, etc (YA Library Services  Association)

Notable children’s books 2015 - American Library Association

All kinds of great ‘Best of 2015’ books by The Guardian

The Costa Awards shortlist 2015

The 100 Best Novels written in English - by Robert McCrum (The Guardian) - How many have you read?

The Man Booker 2015 Award

2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards Results

Many of these titles are in the library -- Put ones that you want on the WISH LIST!!!!

How to be a writer? Find out from our author visits...

ASFG witnessed a flurry of excitement last week as we were visited by some fabulous and famous authors. Here are some highlights of our week....

Grade 5 was visited by Pam Munoz Ryan. She met with an enthusiastic group of fifth graders. For many students 'Esperanza Rising' is one of their favorite books. As all of the students had read the book prior to her visit, the students prepared a gift for Ms. Ryan based on a phrase from the book - 'even roses have thorns.'  After discussing this idea, students connected with one of the themes of the book which is that even when life is good, we might have struggles to overcome which can make us a stronger person. Our gift to Ms. Ryan was a vase of paper roses. On each paper rose, students wrote about a struggle from the book or a struggle in their own lives that they have overcome.  According to many students, they loved learning about her life and how she created stories.  They were surprised to learn that she did 'research' for many of her stories. She also left us with the advice that sometimes it takes 'failure' to become great at something.

Grades 8 and 4 were visited by graphic artist Matt Dembicki who creates graphic novels with environmental themes. As he views himself as a 'comics ambassador,' his talk focused on the world of comics, their importance in today's reading landscape and how he develops ideas. As grade 8 students are in the middle of a graphic novel unit where they will produce a mini-graphic novel, they asked excellent questions to help with their own comic ideas. 

We are very thankful to the U.S. consulate for supporting our writers journey to Guadalajara for the FIL and for sharing them with our learning community.

Inquiry, Makey Makey and Argumentation Grade 6 Science

This year, the library and Mr. Wick's grade 6 science classes are collaborating on inquiry in the science classroom to support the K-12 curriculum goal focusing on the Common Core argumentation literacy standard in all subject areas. For our first collaboration, we decided to use the Makey Makey, a popular MakerSpace item. The Makey Makey is an electronic invention kit that allows you to use  everyday items to play computer programs. It also inspires students to create their own Scratch games and use MakeyMakey to play them. It is a 'kit to unleash your creativity.'

So what did we do?  Since many of the students had 'played' with the Makey Makey before in the MakerSpace, we wondered how many of them knew how it actually worked - What is the science behind the toy? We decided to approach the class with only a few guidelines. We discussed the inquiry process and asked them to put their questioning and experimenting skills to work.  We created a simple handout/guide which explained how to set up the Makey Makey and then had three open ended tasks: How does it work? an observation chart to record how different materials worked and lastly asked the students to summarize their overall experience while explaining 'the science behind the Makey Makey.' A link to the handout with standards can be found here.

Using QR codes to learn about Information Literacy

Recently, grade 7 language arts students took part in a QR code scavenger hunt to apply their knowledge about information literacy.  The hunt took them on a journey through various parts of the library.  Most students stated that they learned new things and explored some collections for the first time.  For example, students were surprised to learn about the short story collections. Students were excited to see that many of their video book talks have been QR coded and are available for students to view at any time. Students are welcome to use the library iPads to explore the QR codes - especially the mystery video book talks.

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A few Highlights from October...

Check out the photos from Book Swap, The Used book sale at Family Day, Project Localize in the Library (grade 9 service project), We Read Banned Books Week and more!

  
  

Global Collaboration Day - What does it mean to be a Global Learner?

Two of our middle school classes took part in Global Collaboration day on September 17 by exploring what it means to be a global learner.  Students from around the world were discussing and sharing similar ideas.  We tweeted out some of our thoughts and viewed responses from around the world.  Connecting our classrooms in this manner made our students think about what it means to be part of the global community on a daily basis as we engage in class and with each other. Some of our posters will become part of an international iBook by VIF education. Students in grade 5 and grade 6 English and Mexican social studies took part.  Thanks to their fabulous teachers Ms. Andrea and Ms. Dominque it was a great collaboration.

We Did It! Genre Shelved MS Fiction Collection - And it was worth it!

The journey to genre-shelving our middle school fiction collection started, two years ago, during my first year as a librarian.  Initially, I was inspired by other librarians’ journeys with genre-shelving and thought it might be a great idea, yet an overwhelming prospect.  As my first year progressed and I watched our middle school students wander around the the MS fiction collection without a plan - I thought there had to be a better way to find a great book to read.  Even with the many reader advisory lists I made available to students, having the collection organized by author’s last name made browsing a very hit or miss activity for most. The final push to genre shelving came when the English and Spanish teachers adopted a balanced literacy approach to teaching reading and literature.  Essentially, every child reads a ‘good fit’ book of their choice and uses that book to build skills, etc... This made the decision to genre shelve a no-brainer.  The question was how to do it efficiently and correctly.  After browsing many other librarians blogs and tips, I decided to re-catalogue and make new spine labels for all the books in the collection.  My favorite laugh during this process was when one of the teachers asked how long it would take, ‘one weekend?’

Once we got started, it took approximately 4 months with the help of a dedicated parent volunteer.  As I am the only librarian, it could not have been done without this assistance.

How did we do it?

-First, we did an aggressive weeding of old and irrelevant titles.

-Then I met with the Language Arts teachers and decided on seven genre categories. This was tough as there are so many ways to categorize, and led to many great debates. In the end, we decided to not have too many genres, and fortunately, teachers are using the same distinctions in their classroom libraries.  

-We began to re-catalogue each book.  In Destiny, we changed each call number, made new spine labels and color coded the genres.  This step took the longest amount of time.  As books were returned, we re-coded them and slowly moved through the stacks. Once we had changed 95% of the books we had a moving day to sort the books according to genre.  It was much more fun than I expected. It took three of us about two hours to put every book in its new home.

-The collection now has 2000 current titles.

-We found that our fantasy/science fiction section was quite large, So we tagged dystopians and 

sci fi with an additional sticker.

-New signage matched the color of the genres.

-We finished in June 2015.

-This school year, we kicked off with opening orientations for the MS classes.

-Our genres are (see spine label example below): 

adventure/action/sports, humor, fantasy/science fiction, realistic fiction, 
historical fiction, mysteries/suspense and romance/relationship

So far the results are great. Student response is very positive and many have commented on how the new system makes it easier to discover new reads. It has also supported the conversations I have with young readers about their interests and allows for me to ‘push’ new genres given their interests.  For example, one reader who had enjoyed many of our sports fiction was encouraged to pick up a mystery with a sports setting. He loved it. Genre shelving also lets me assess our needs quickly, as it is evident which genres are most popular and which need more titles. I am looking forward to observing more benefits from our genre shelved MS fiction collection as the year goes on.  For now, it is wonderful to watch our students develop more independence as readers. And this year, we tackle genre shelving the Spanish MS fiction collection.

Note: ASFG’s upper school library serves a bilingual community of learners in grades 5-12 and our parent community. We have an English MS fiction collection, HS/adult fiction collection, Spanish MS fiction collection and a HS/adult Spanish fiction collection.  In Non-fiction, English and Spanish titles are shelved together.
Special Thanks to - Jennie Kies and Alicia Marigliano

   

Exciting Start to the YEAR!!!!!!

So much has happened since summer vacation... 

I will soon write a longer post about the many changes that have happened since last June... 

For now.... Please join us at these great happenings....

Friday First -- HS students stop in at 1st and 2nd Break 

to enjoy book chatting/coffee/cookies

Faculty and staff invited all day!

3D Printer for makerspace - needs a team to assemble it!

Teachers, explore the 'invisible library' workshop on databases & more...

You are invited to a Spring Break Party in the 

US Library! 

Yes, a party on March 27 during all teacher lunch periods and ALL DAY in the upper school library

We will have LOTS OF GREAT READING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EVERYONE

It is a chance to mingle with some friends before taking off on vacation and find a friend, a book, to take with you :)

Plus, we will have snacks — with and without gluten :)

Please bring your lunch or something to share if you are so inclined….

Everyone is invited, pass on….

World Read Aloud Day

March 4 was World Read Aloud Day.  This day was started to highlight the importance of reading as a primary form of empowerment for all young people.  Each year, educators and librarians from around the world take part by connecting with other classrooms via technology. This year, I found 2 different classrooms in the United States to connect with Ms. Laya's grade 5 LA class.  Our students read a digital version of Chico the Brave from the WeGiveBooks website.  This allowed for both classrooms to see the book projected on a large screen as all schools did not have a hard copy of the book.  We also made this global project local by reading to Ms. Stefanie's kinder class.  The students did a wonderful reading of the story and loved talking with students in Wisconsin discussing the benefits of snow. :). The US collaborations were found via teacher librarian Google+ community.

Service - Grade 6 Taking Part in Students Rebuild Literacy Challenge

During the month of February, grade 6 LA students took part in a global literacy challenge sponsored by Students Rebuild.  The challenge encouraged students to create bookmarks which will be given to students taking part in the literacy project run by Save the Children in Mali and Peru.  For each bookmark, one US dollar was also contributed to the challenge.  Our students had a lot of fun while also learning about the issues of literacy and why it is so important to know how to read.  As one of our students said "reading allows you to think for yourself." 

      

3 Word Book Talks - Grade 7

Grade 7 Language Arts students participated in a collaborative 3 Word Book Talk using Google Presentation. The idea of a 3 word book talk was modelled and related to the world of texting. Like in much modern communication, texting needs to be short and sweet while at the same time grab our attention. Students were challenged to think of three words that captured the essence of a book that they wanted to tell others about.  With texting, we need to be concise, interesting and purposeful to express our meaning to others. Some students did a variation on the idea by doing three, 3 word sentences. By the end of the class period, we shared the Google Presentation which included twenty 3 Word Book Talks in 4 minutes. Super Cool. Keep an eye out for a bulletin board with with the 3 Word Book Talks - maybe you will find something new to read!

Library Promotional Video by Axl (grade 8 student)

Check out this great promotional video of the upper school library by Axl.  He shares some of the new changes to the library with a great sense of humor. Look for physical changes, the makerspace and our activities... Enjoy!!!

DESTINY, more than a book finder....

Many students believe that DESTINY, our online catalog, is just for searching books. But, it is so much more, it is a great research portal. There are two options - Webpath Express a teacher vetted search engine with thousands of useful sites all at an appropriate level for our students. The other option is OneSearch which amazed the class. It searches over 30 databases and encyclopedias at one time - without leaving DESTINY. These great tools are supporting Ms. Dominique's grade 6 students' research projects in social studies as they are only allowed to use DESTINY to answer student-created questions about Central America and the Caribbean. We will continue to support the research via co-teaching with Ms. Dominique as students develop lines of inquiry..

Making - Comic books and research in Grade 5 Social Studies

Ms. Dallas' grade 5 social studies classes are studying at least 6 global issues this year using a problem based learning approach.  Today, while in the library, we did some 'making' in the research process to give the students an opportunity to think creatively about a selected global issue by creating a superhero that could solve the problem with their super powers.  They drew and cut out their superhero to place in scenes for the comic. This 'making' activity is to help students to think divergently about an issue and to use their imagination to attack real issues.  This activity also allowed students to connect with the emotional side of a research topic. We will reuse our superheroes throughout the year to build on this introductory experience. Students used the library iPads and the app Comic Book.

 

How Has a Book Shaped Your Life?

The library's literacy campaign - how has a book shaped you? -  has kicked off.  Members of the learning community are sharing how books influenced them.  So far about half the faculty and staff have contributed to the project.  Already, many students are reading the posters with great interest and have even checked out a few of the favorite books.  The faculty snippets on the posters provide a wonderful insight as to how books have influenced us. Interestingly, many titles are children's books showing us how a book can have a long lasting influence over us.  Look for the posters in the library and around campus.  Happy Reading!!!!